Talking Retail Grocery and product news for independent retailers
Nikki Rogers, food solutions director at Spar distributor AF Blakemore, told today’s online Summit hosted by the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS): “One of the things that has caught everybody out is the unprecedented change in consumer behaviour.
“Ingrained behaviours that previously may have taken years to change are now changing in a couple of weeks.”
Value, she said, had always been crucial, but with recession looming in the UK it was set to become more important than ever.
Early in lockdown, Blakemore identified the fact that many first-time customers were using its stores. To press home the value message to these new shoppers, it cut prices on 180 lines and promoted the fact heavily.
“By driving value credentials, we believe we will retain more customers when the world goes back to some kind of normal,” Rogers said.
The importance of value was underlined by another ACS Summit speaker, Jonny McQuarrie, managing director at the Tesco-owned One Stop chain and its Jack’s discount operation.
“Many more customers are going to be watching the pennies. Value is going to be paramount,” he said.
A selection of Jack’s products was recently made available to One Stop, Budgens and Londis retailers.
Promotions were also crucial to a retailer’s value perception, Rogers added.
“Early on in the crisis, lots of promotions got pulled because the availability wasn’t there. But when they did become available again, we really wanted to help our customers.”
The company introduced a ‘four for £5’ meal deal on ‘tonight’s tea’ items such as frozen pizza and other convenient options.
Despite the fact people were at home more than ever, they were more time-pressed, because of things like home-schooling, Rogers said. “While they wanted to scratch-cook, they were finding it really difficult.”
Another key pillar of value was having a strong own-label, and to further cement its popularity among shoppers, Blakemore will next week launch a ‘buy one, get one for 1p’ offer on certain own-label products.
“It’s the first time we have done anything like this,” Rogers said. “The aim is to drive own-label penetration. If we can get own-label into more baskets, we will improve customer retention. It’s about ensuring that when the world does return to normal…that doesn’t just drop off a cliff.”
Blakemore had also seen success with its new value fresh meat range, County Bridge.
“We have seen fresh meat sales quadruple in some stores where we’ve put this in. It’s about driving footfall into stores and giving people the opportunity to buy whole of their evening meal in one location.”
Despite food-to-go having “just died” after the UK went into lockdown, Rogers believes it still holds the key to future growth, either as workers return to the office or as they tire of making their own lunch at home and look for ready-made solutions instead.
“If we wanted to come back fighting in food-to-go, we needed to be ready to respond when people started to go back to the office,” she said.
Blakemore has therefore developed a new range for its Daily Deli food-to-go offer, including hot and cold breakfasts, snack pots and meal pots. The range will launch in October.
“We identified that most of our consumer base is quite lunch-weary at the moment, having been at home for six months. Even if people are still working from home, we are confident there’s an opportunity for us to maximise food-to-go.”
Retailers would also need to respond quickly to new trading opportunities, such as selling PPE. Some Blakemore stores already feature a free-standing display unit dedicated to masks, hand-sanitiser and other protective gear.
“We think PPE will be here for at least the medium term. It’s essential we are ready and able to respond to new missions and new opportunities.”
Online ordering was also here to stay, Rogers said, but it was important that retailers paid the same attention to range and promotional structures online as they did in-store.
With consumer behaviours changing so rapidly, it was vital for retailers to remain “nimble” but also be ready to make mistakes.
“Not everything you try will work. Be prepared to fail – fail fast, learn and move on.”
